New tourdates for Norwegian act Monomen:
01/29 - A38, Budapest (HUN)
01/31 - Berghamer, Sigharting (AUS) w/Der Otsch
02/02 - B72, Wien (AUS)
02/05 - Bierstindl, Innsbruck (AUS) w/The Banshee
02/06 - Yeah!Club @ Rockhouse, Salzburg (AUS)
02/07 - Bertholdsaal, Weyer (AUS)
Musikknyheter's favorite Norwegian albums of 2007:
01. Superfamily - Warszawa
02. My Midnight Creeps - Histamin
03. The Grand - The Grand
04. The Lionheart Brothers - Dizzy Kiss
05. The Moving Oos - Peace and Love
06. Monomen - Monomen LP
07. King Midas - Sorry
08. Skambankt - Eliksir
09. Shining - Grindstone
10. Truls and the Trees - Ailanthus
And their favorite Norwegian songs:
01. Superfamily - The Radio Has Expressed Concerns About What You Did Last Night
02. Moving Oos - Romancer
03. King Midas - West End Boys
04. Ida Maria - Oh My God
05. The Disciplines - Best Mistake
06. Monomen - Drum of glass
07. Raga Rockers - Aldri Mer
08. The Grand - Remedy
09. Lukas Kasha - Love Abuse
10. Susanne Sundfør - Walls
I want badly to give this record an 8 or a 9, though while "Drum of glass", "Neon", and "Lowlife" all convey that nervous energy perfect before a good night out, there is a complete lack of focus on Monomen's self-titled LP. The huge synth rock approach similar to that of fellow Scandinavians Strip Music and 80s champions New Order is bizarrely abandoned for a series of instrumental tracks in the latter half of the album. Why the band thought removing the vocalist's near perfect 80s goth delivery would in any way enhance the record is beyond me. These instrumental compositions are not bad, "Aurora" is even damned good, but the sudden shift in gears detrimentally affects the overall feel and solidity of the album. Luckily, Monomen close with "Lowlife", and much can be forgiven when lost in those final minutes of the record. The "Monomen LP" is a worthy collection of tracks, I just hope that the next records keep the instrumentals, interesting and competent as they are, as b-sides only.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
The playlist for my radio show this week:
01. Death By Kite - Scared of heights
02. TALK 1
03. Kompjotr Eplektrika - Crakkin zombees...
04. Monomen - Asian spacestation
05. José González - Hints
06. TALK 2
07. I Am Bones - Backpackers
08. Ellen Beach - The widespread acclaim
09. Moder Jords Massiva - Ingenting
10. TALK 3
11. Iisole - The words
12. Kornstad - Sweden
13. Cortex - Mind of darkness
14. TALK 4
15. Silverbullit - Run
16. [ingenting] - Hollywood dreams
17. In Flames - The jester race
18. TALK 5
19. Nicolai Dunger - Soul rush
20. Existensminimum - Changing lines
21. Echo Is Your Love - Peace song
22. TALK 6
23. Laakso - The death of us
24. Christian Kjellvander - Words in the wires
25. Mustasch - Double nature
26. TALK 7
27. Tellevika + Firefox AK - Eric
28. Tape - A spire
29. C.Aarmé - Golden retriever
30. TALK 8
31. The Bear Quartet - Put me back together
32. Susanne Sundfør - Walls
33. The Hellacopters - Like no other man
34. TALK 9
35. Aerial - You will all die, all things will
This week's top 20 Norwegian album chart:
01. Samvirkelaget - Musikk
02. Superfamily - Warszawa
03. Susanne Sundfør - Susanne Sundfør
04. The Kids - Hits fra Kids
05. Dimmu Borgir - In Sorte Diaboli
06. Tord Gustavsen Trio - Being There
07. Magnet - The Simple Life
08. Tone Damli Aaberge - Sweet Fever
09. BigBang - Too Much Yang
10. TNT - The New Territory
11. Heroes & Zeros - Strange Constellations
12. Monomen - Monomen
13. Ulf Risnes - Ingen andre
14. Jonas Fjeld og Chatham C. - Amerikabesøk
15. Vamp - I full symfoni (med KORK)
16. Vidar Busk and the Voo Doodz - Jookbox Charade
17. Silje Nergaard - Darkness out of blue
18. Marit Larsen - Under The Surface
19. Steinar Albrigtsen - Moments of Peace
20. Finn Kalvik - Komplett Klassisk Kalvik
DJ Martian recommends Norwegian act Monomen: http://djmartian.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html#5780607389162183888
I haven't had the time yet to investigate them myself.